Hello all. Rosie is a 7 1/2 month Ruby. She is a rescue pup who came into our lives 8 weeks ago. While we are working through many puppy issues the one that I need help with is correcting her biting. She will try to use my hand as a chew toy which is corrected with a "no" and I switch out my hand for a toy or bone. Lately this is has become more of a snap and a less playful bite. I have continued to say a firm "no" and give her a toy / bone. Am I doing the correct thing? This is my first puppy/dog so any suggestions on how to correct would be helpful. I'm so pleased to have found this wonderful site!

Soushiruiuma

18th August 2012, 09:15 PM

I used to yelp (not scream at the dog, try to make the sound a dog would make). And if I felt the infraction was particularly bad I would sit in the corner and whimper and not pay any attention to the puppy for a little while (30 seconds to 1 minute). Then slowly and calmly go back to being with the dog.

I'm not sure it's the conventional route, but it did seem to work.

Emkaybee

19th August 2012, 12:52 AM

Here's what I've done with my puppies.

The overall message to the dog is that any uninvited contact of their mouth with any part of the human is forbidden. This means clothing, hair, skin, etc. When the puppy connects with its mouth, I say "ouch" loudly and stop responding and/or put something acceptable to chew into its mouth. If it happens again I repeat the ouch and turn my back on the pup for about 30 seconds to a minute. If happens again, I repeat, turn my back and leave the room, leaving puppy alone. I was told by a trainer that this mimics what dogs do with each other when one plays too rough, and is how siblings teach other proper playing and bite inhibition.

One thing to be careful of is to not get excited, raise your voice too much, or start "chewing the puppy out" verbally. This will feed the puppy's excitement and be interpreted as you being playful. What teaches the lesson is the quick correction and then being ignored.

Hope this helps. Puppies can be very challenging when in a biting phase--but it will pass! :D

MomObvious

19th August 2012, 02:46 AM

Fletcher went thur a spell of too much too hard mouthing. I have kids so I needed to get the WHOLE house trained on how to deal with this. We did two things that really helped. First we did the "ouch" and walk away, then we learned Fletcher really liked squeaky toys and ALWAYS had one in hand instead. Making sure we had a "yes bite this" object in hand really helped fairly quickly (I think).

DZee

20th August 2012, 05:17 PM

When we were training our larger dogs ( Rottweiler, Retrievers) years back ( and this works with small dogs as well)..we did exactly what has been mentioned here.
Biting & mouthing is normal behavior for pups..but still needs to be addressed. You are not their chew toy.
Mothers usually discipline or show their pups right away what they are NOT allowed to do. She will growl and give a bit of a snap at the young pup and then walk away. Most pups learn this early ( around 6 - 8 weeks of age)..but sadly in puppy mills ( or bad breeders)..the pups are taken away from the mothers so young..they have a hard time learning bite inhibition.

When we would give treat ...we would either have our hand completely flat ( so they basically lick the treat off)..or have it in a clenched fist...and continue to calmly say.... "niiiiiice"..and open our hand slowly revealing the treat. In that way..they had no chance to actually bite. It worked for us.

If you are playing w/ your pup however...my advice if your pup begins to snap at you and it is more of a "bite"..is to make a LOUD enough "yelp" ( enough to startle it)...turn your back...then walk away. DO NOT give it a toy to play with instead. Reason I say this...it may be associating the bite with getting a "toy" now ( sort of a reward)...so you might need to change it's thinking on that.
No reward for the biting...just completely ignore his attempts to play for awhile. That is what a Mommy DOG would do.
Even with their mothers... puppies act a lot like kids. They have angel days and devil days.
With patience.. persistence and a few hints from you..as puppy mother.. you'll be able to tip the balance toward the angel's side!
And he will then grow up into a balanced adult...lol...*good luck*

Soushiruiuma

20th August 2012, 06:03 PM

We used to feed our large dogs their treats off of metal spoons. They figure out the "gentle" command pretty quick that way. They also learned that being fed off of silverware was very luxurious and always had their best behaviour for those kinds of treats.

Do all animals grow up with "family" quirks, or is that just the weird families?

DZee

20th August 2012, 06:13 PM

We used to feed our large dogs their treats off of metal spoons. They figure out the "gentle" command pretty quick that way. They also learned that being fed off of silverware was very luxurious and always had their best behaviour for those kinds of treats.

Do all animals grow up with "family" quirks, or is that just the weird families?

:o I probably shouldn't admit this...but I give our dogs a few bites from my plate ( when I am done) of my meat with my FORK. And you are right...they DO take it quite gently...hehehe! ;)

My Henry Boy

20th August 2012, 07:13 PM

I've always fed my dogs off my plate (after I'm done) with my fork. My boxer by far was the most gentle creature. I've also always given them treats (cookies) that I hold between my lips and tell them easy.

Furrfoot

20th August 2012, 10:02 PM

I did the loud "YIPE!!!" and immediate stop to everything with Rose. The second time I did it, she looked at my hand, looked at me, back at my hand, and then stared at me like "Oh, that's you?" and she quit (thankfully!). I agree with stopping giving the toy after the mouth issue- Rose picks up on the "Oh, so if I do this, I get that?", even if it's the exact opposite of what I intended, very quickly! Now we have "timeout" if reprimanding and/or ignoring her doesn't work.

LindsayD

28th August 2012, 03:41 PM

Thanks everyone. I've been doing the yelp as soon as hand and mouth come into contact & ignore & remove myself from play. Seems to be working.